PHILADELPHIA — Kimmo Timonen stood on the locker room stage on this Tuesday and looked down the regular season slope. It would go fast, these last 18 regular season games, and the ride could be anywhere from thrilling to bumpy to disastrous.

No matter how it would turn out, however, the veteran Flyers defenseman was certainly looking forward to it, if only because he’s of the belief that it can indeed lead to a greater spring reward.

“I want to see how we do in these 18 games, and I want to feel the playoff atmosphere,” Timonen said prior to the Flyers’ resuming the stretch drive ride tonight against the New Jersey Devils at Wells Fargo Center. “That’s the goal. Hopefully we get there with this team, because once you get to the playoffs you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

But Timonen, perhaps putting optimism a little of all other emotions, says the great unknown of the postseason could carry great promise for he and his Flyers teammates, so long as they stick to one core belief about the playoff chase:

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“You have as good a chance as anybody once you get in,” he said.

To that end, Timonen said, “I have to focus on these 18 games.” But there’s little doubt in the back of his mind, and with both his 39th birthday (March 18) and an expiring contract looming, thoughts of retirement have at least crept into his focused thinking.

“I feel great,” said Timonen, who seems free of the back issues that hampered him last season and is coming off a game in Toronto where he scored two goals, doubling his previous season total. “But it’s not how I feel now. It’s about getting ready for another season, play another 82 games. That’s the long run. But I’m going to put that behind me for now and think about it in the summertime.”

What he’d like to do, certainly, would be to think about whether or not he wants to play another season in the aftermath of winning a Stanley Cup this season. With a 14-season NHL career and over 20 years of international play, including five Olympic tournaments, behind him, that’s the one golden goal that has eluded Timonen in his long career.

“That’s why I’m still here,” Timonen said. “It keeps you motivated every night, thinking about I still have a chance to get it. Hopefully it’s this year, and that’s why these next 18 games are really huge for me and our team.

“To get into the playoffs, then anything is possible. That’s my opinion. There’s always better teams that got more points in the standings, but once you get into the playoffs, they disappear. It doesn’t matter how many points you got in the regular season.

“So we have to get in, then anything’s possible.”

Including a run to a Stanley Cup ... then a glorious retirement setting?

“That would be a dream way to leave for anybody,” Timonen said. “I’m not going to say either way what’s going to happen. But that would be a perfect way to leave the game.”